“Hungary is producing the highest rate of economic growth in Europe”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary Levente Magyar declared at the official opening of Danish company Vestfrost Zrt’s new, 4.7 billion-forint (EUR 14 million) production hall in Csongrád on Thursday.

The State Secretary said Hungary is ranked 92nd in the world according to its population, but is generating the world’s 34th highest export performance, is ranked 16th with relation to invested foreign capital, and 5th based on the ratio of per capita foreign working capital.

He said that a development project by a Danish company is being completed practically every month or week in the city. “The confidence of Danish enterprises in Hungary and in the Hungarian workforce has increased”, he added. The politician pointed out that Vestfrost decided on the acquisition of the Csongrád refrigerator plant in 2010, when rather than growing, as is it is doing today at a rate that is three times the European average, the Hungarian economy was in total freefall. The government provided funding equal to one quarter of the investment value, and the Hungarian contribution to the project was even higher in view of the fact that Eximbank was also indirectly involved in its financing.

CEO of Vestfrost Lars Knudsen told the press that the new production hall for the manufacturing of wine refrigerators was constructed within less than a year. Thanks to the investment project, the company will be increasing its production by 300 percent and employing 100 new staff over the next three years.

Mayor of Csongrád Tamás Bedő (independent) explained that thanks to the investment Vestfrost has become one of the city’s largest employers, and one of the enterprises with the highest turnovers.

Vestfrost Zrt. deals in the production and distribution of commercial, catering industry and medical refrigerators and their accessories. The company has been owned for the past ten years by Danish company A/S Vestfrost, which was established in Esbjerg in 1963, and is the company’s only production unit outside Denmark. According to publicly available company data, Vestrorst Zrt. employed 155 people in 2018 and realised a net turnover of over 3.731 billion forints (EUR 11.07 million), over 98 percent of which was derived from exports. The company posted 64.253 million forints in after tax profits.

(MTI)